There’s a moment midway through Pixels where the military realize they are outmatched by the invading aliens/retro video game characters, and the president himself (Kevin James; more on that later) allows the gaming experts played by Adam Sandler and Josh Gad to assume command of the battle. In that moment, the film nearly stumbles on to some meaningful subtext. After all, we’re all living in a world where comic book properties are the premier form of entertainment and tech skills are essential for landing a job. More than ever, being a geek is (as we once pointed out) actually a tremendous asset. Unfortunately, that split-second of promise is as close as Pixels gets to excellence.
The film centers on three childhood friends (Sandler, James and Gad, natch) whose video game skills just might be the key to saving the world from an alien invasion. The “how” and “why” of the aliens’ attack is beyond flimsy, but ultimately the extraterrestrial race unleashes giant versions of classic video game characters like Pac-Man, Centipede and Donkey Kong in an act on intergalactic warfare. Hilarity ensues or, at least, it’s supposed to.
The marketing for Pixels relies heavily on the image of these computerized icons wreaking havoc throughout the world, and that inherently goofy premise certainly has a ton of potential. Indeed some of the action sequences – including a standout car chase wherein our heroes play the world’s most epic game of Pac-Man – are staged as large-scale versions of the video games they reference. It’s clear that at least some effort was taken in recreating these scenes, even if the surrounding film doesn’t do much to exploit this modicum of inventiveness. Rather, the film is content instead to let Sandler and his cronies carry on with their usual schtick rather than even attempt a coherent story.
While it’s fashionable to hate on Sandler, his biggest crime isn’t that he is talentless or completely devoid in charisma. He’s simply become far too complacent over the years, relying on the same bag of tricks that rocketed him to fame in the mid-1990s rather than attempt anything new. True, the same could be said about his fellow Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell, but even he has demonstrated more range in the past decade. Sandler once again (see: Blended) is so tired and desperate for laughs that you half-expect him to burst into his Opera Man persona and wink at the screen as if to say “Ah, remember that?”
As a result, the vast majority of the “jokes” in Pixels fall flat, with the cast seemingly unaware that the film they’re trapped in fall is saddled with a lifeless script that never truly pulls itself together, either on a narrative or comedic level. Only Peter Dinklage rises to the occasion, playing the seedy video game champion Eddie Plant (clearly inspired in part by real-life gamer Billy Mitchell) who the film’s heroes begrudgingly turn to for help. He brings such authority and swagger to the screen that it’s a pity the film waits so long to bring him into the action, and it’s telling that in a cast headlined by a trio of comedy stars (and a charming Michelle Monaghan, who deserves far better than this film gives her), Dinklage gets all the biggest laughs.
Pixels could have worked as a parody of disaster films, riffing on the conventions that films like Armageddon and Independence Day cling to in telling their stories. Instead, it comes across as a lame Ghostbusters/Men in Black ripoff spliced with just another Sandler comedy, offering few genuine thrills and even fewer laughs. Even more disappointingly, director Chris Columbus turns in one of the weakest films of his career, a bold statement considering that he’s also responsible for the maudlin schmaltzfest known as Bicentennial Man.